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city in Boyle County, Kentucky, United States
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Danville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of the Boyle and Lincoln counties. In 2001, Danville received a Great American Main Street Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Centre College in Danville was selected to host U.S. vice-presidential debates in 2000 and 2012.
Within Kentucky, Danville is called the "City of Firsts":
Danville was part of the Great Settlement Area around Fort Harrod (present-day Harrodsburg), which was first settled in 1774. The site was originally known as Crow's Station for settler John Crow, but the town was surveyed and platted by Walker Daniel, Kentucky's first district attorney, who bought 76 acres (31 ha) near the Wilderness Road from Crow in 1783. The city was named for Daniel. The Virginia legislature officially established Danville on December 4, 1787.
Between 1784 and 1792, ten conventions were held in Danville to petition for better governance and ultimately to secure independence from Virginia. In 1786 the Danville Political Club was organized. It met each Saturday night at Grayson's Tavern to discuss the political, economic, and social concerns of the day. After a state constitution was adopted and separation was confirmed in 1792, the town ceased to be of statewide importance. Its leading citizens moved elsewhere.
Transylvania University was founded in Danville in 1783. It moved to Lexington in 1789. Centre College was founded in 1819. Danville Theological Seminary was founded in 1853; in 1901 it became part of the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. The Caldwell Institute for Young Ladies was founded in 1860. It became Caldwell Female College in 1876, Caldwell College in 1904, Kentucky College for Women in 1913, and merged into Centre College in 1926.
In November 1806, Meriwether Lewis, co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, visited Danville while traveling the Wilderness Road to Washington, D.C., to report on the expedition, which had returned from the Pacific Coast. In December 1806, William Clark visited his nephews in school in Danville before following Lewis to Washington.
The first school in Danville for African-American children was founded around 1840 by Willis Russell, an emancipated slave of Robert Craddock, a Revolutionary War veteran. Craddock deeded a log house in Danville to Russell. He moved to the town after Craddock's death and started a school for children. The house on Walnut Street no longer stands, though what was once believed to be his house is now the Willis Russell Memorial Cabin. Russell's house stood across the street, opposite St. James African American Methodist Church.
In 1842, Boyle County was formed from southern Mercer County and northern Lincoln County. Danville became its county seat.
In 1850, Danville and Boyle County backed construction of the Lexington and Danville Railroad. Money ran out when the railroad reached Nicholasville. John A. Roebling had already built towers for a railroad suspension bridge over the Kentucky River. (Roebling lived in Danville during the construction.) Despite the railroad not being completed to Danville, the county still owed the company $150,000. It completed payment on time in 1884.
In 1860, a fire devastated the city, destroying 64 buildings and causing more than $300,000 in damages. Boyle County's courthouse was destroyed; its replacement was completed in 1862.
After the Union Army won the Battle of Perryville in the Civil War on October 8, 1862, it appropriated many Danville buildings, including the courthouse, for use as hospitals. On October 11, a Union force drove Confederate forces from the county fairgrounds through Danville.
In May 1864, the group of 250 – mostly enslaved males but including some freedmen – marched from Danville to nearby Camp Nelson in Jessamine County, where Colonel Andrew Clark allowed them to enlist In the Union Army after some initial hesitation. Arriving with wounds inflicted upon them en route, this group was the first to enlist at this site, where 10,000 United States Colored Troops trained.
In 1775, Archibald McNeill planted Kentucky's first recorded hemp crop at Clark's Run Creek near Danville. By 1889 Boyle County was one of the ten Kentucky counties which together produced more than 90% of the US yield. It was the state's largest cash crop until 1915, when it lost its market to imported jute.
From the turn of the 20th century through the 1960s, Danville was home to a thriving African-American business sector located on and around 2nd Street on the western edge of what is now Constitution Square Historic Site. The city demolished this business sector under urban renewal in the 1970s to provide for the expansion of Constitution Square Park.
On October 5, 2000, Dick Cheney and Senator Joe Lieberman, candidates for Vice President of the United States, debated at Centre College during the 2000 presidential election. On October 11, 2012, Centre College again hosted the Vice-Presidential debate, this time between Vice President Joe Biden and Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan.
Danville is located in eastern Boyle County.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 15.9 square miles (41.2 km2), of which 15.8 square miles (41.0 km2) is land and 0.077 square miles (0.2 km2), or 0.58%, is water.
Blue Grass Community Action Partnership provides DanTran bus service inside Danville. BGCAP also connects Danville with Lexington, Stanford, Junction City, and Lancaster.
Stuart Powell Field (DVK), 3 miles (5 km) from downtown, serves as Danville's general aviation airport. Blue Grass Airport (LEX) in Lexington, 35 miles (56 km) away, provides the closest commercial service. More extensive commercial service is available from Louisville International Airport (SDF), 82 miles (132 km) away, and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), 127 miles (204 km) away.
Norfolk Southern Railway operates a freight rail yard in Danville. Its Louisville-Chattanooga line intersects with its Cincinnati-Chattanooga line just north of Danville.
Danville has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with hot summers and moderately cold winters. Precipitation is abundant and well-spread, with an average of 47.85 inches (1,220 mm).
As of the 2020 census, Danville had a population of 17,234. The median age was 38.6 years. 20.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 20.1% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 87.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 83.8 males age 18 and over.
98.7% of residents lived in urban areas, while 1.3% lived in rural areas.
There were 6,887 households in Danville, of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 40.0% were married-couple households, 17.2% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 35.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 7,579 housing units, of which 9.1% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 8.9%.
As of the 2010 census, there were 16,218 people, 6,405 households, and 3,903 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,020.0/sq mi (393.8/km2). There were 7,180 housing units at an average density of 451.6/sq mi (174.4/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 83.2% White, 10.9% African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 1.8% from other races, and 2.8% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 3.9% of the population.
Of the 6,405 households, 25.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.1% were married couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.8% were non-families. 33.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.83.
20.8% of the population was under the age of 18, 61.8% from 18 to 64, and 18.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.4 years. Females made up 54.4% and males made up 45.6% of the population aged 18 or older.
As of 2000, the median income for a household was US $32,938, and the median income for a family was $40,528. Males had a median income of $35,327 versus $24,542 for females. The per capita income was $18,906. About 9.4% of families and 12.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.6% of those under age 18 and 10.5% of those age 65 or over.
FBI crime statistics for 2009 list the crime rate (per 100,000 population) for Danville as follows:
Danville Schools includes most of the city limits. It operates Mary G. Hogsett Primary School, Edna L. Toliver Intermediate School, John W. Bate Middle School, and Danville High School for the city of Danville. Boyle County Schools operates Woodlawn Elementary School, Junction City Elementary School, Perryville Elementary School, Boyle County Middle School, and Boyle County High School for portions of Danville and the remainder of Boyle County. Kentucky School for the Deaf provides education to Kentucky's deaf and hard-of-hearing children from elementary through high school.
A portion of Danville is in the Boyle County Schools district.
Two private schools operate in Danville:
Centre College, a nationally recognized liberal arts college, is located in Danville. Six other colleges and universities have (or had) campuses in Danville:
Danville has a lending library, the Boyle County Public Library.
On March 2, 2010, Danville voted to go "wet" (to permit sale of packaged alcohol and sale of alcohol by the drink without restriction by size of premises).
Text from the Wikipedia article “Danville, Kentucky”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.